The movies and our national psyche

If not for the language used and the familiar faces, one gets the funny feeling that they're products of some foreign countries. You won't see a hint of the genuine, the pure Filipino character in most of them. They are neither American nor French nor Chinese, and yet they don't seem to be Filipino, either. The Filipino image reflected in our films is so distorted to be identifiable. It's like something has gone wrong with the lenses.

Our current movies are mainly "action" movies-whether the action takes place in some crime-laden slum district or on a bed that's cushioned accordingly for the hot sexual calisthenics. Seldom do we see nowadays films that reflect fundamental Filipino values.

What's uniquely Filipino in torrid lovemaking from the kitchen all the way to the bedroom? Or about a hoodlum that shouts, "Mga anak ng titing kayo!" then rolls over seven times while simultaneously exchanging shots with the police, before he finally comes to what looks like an epileptic seizure and then drops dead?

Even the titles are crappy-"Kangkong", "Pinya", "Talong", "Petsay", "Mani". You would think these are films promoting the government's Green Revolution program. There are some good ones every once in a long while, of course. "Ganito Kami Noon," "Tatlong Taong Walang Diyos," "Maynila sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag," "Oro, Plata, Mata," "Rizal," "Ang Bagong Buwan," "Magnifico" and a few others make you proud to be Filipino. But these good ones are piteously outnumbered by mediocre works.

Our film industry has become a blind follower of the Hollywood cult. It's easy to understand why. When most of the box-office hits are Hollywood films, we think that Hollywood must be doing it all right. Thus, Hollywood becomes the ultimate standard not only in filmmaking but of our own culture, as well. Our movies today are vulgar, violent, superficial-they look and feel very un-Filipino.

We must understand that the Hollywood style is primarily a reflection of the American experience. Hollywood films are so because that's how they know life to be. Besides, their huge production budgets allow for visual frills and great special effects. They flaunt what they have or can afford to do it. They have the whole world for their market. The Filipino film industry isn't blessed with as much resources and, therefore, can never wow the world market the Hollywood way. In the first place, we are Filipinos, not Americans. We are okay being ourselves.

We Filipinos have our own unique character. Our sense of loyalty is almost unbreakable.

We are non-confrontational; we have our own diplomatic ways of settling our disputes.

We smile and talk our differences over. And our disagreements often vanish under tactful gestures. We remain courteous even when interacting with our adversaries. Our sense of hospitability extends almost to a fault. We get ourselves in debt just so we could accommodate our visitors well. We sleep on the floor while our guests take to our beds. And we have no problem with that-until some foreign wisdom teaches us something else.

It's no different from toothpaste, deodorant stick and hamburger. These have become essentials in our lives today when, in the past, we were content with simple salt brine for mouthwash, rock tawas for deodorant and boiled bananas for snacks. Our ways were more apt for our location on the planet. We relied on things that were native and abundant in our country. Our skin was naturally tinted for protection from the rays of the tropical sun.

These have all changed. Today we abandon the farmlands and strain ourselves in endeavors that we once never heard of. We change the color of our skin, dye our hair, lift our noses and clothe our bodies with fashion which our grandparents would have regarded as indecent or insane. When we face the mirror, we see a stranger. We have lost the sense of what or who we really are. And yet, we love the caricature we've become.

We imitate the American lifestyle as we see it in their movies. What we don't know is that it's only the tip-of-the-iceberg as far the real American spirit is concerned. More than their carefree, adventurous pursuits depicted in Hollywood films, Americans are down-to-earth, conscientious, hard-working people. Their sense of nationalism is impeccable.

They appreciate the finer things in life and go out of their way to promote it. They have a long list of foundations for the arts. But these subtle qualities we seldom get to see. It seems that, to a large extent, we have come to pattern our life after the movies-movies that do not even reflect actual life realities, films that are teeming with corrosive ideas.

Our teenagers are displaying their romantic intimacies in public. Our respect for elders is waning. Our sense of morality has gravely deteriorated. Our concept of right and wrong is getting vague. Our homes are breaking apart. True love of country, once a treasured virtue, is now becoming a myth.

Criminality is rising. In many cases, lawbreakers-usually morons incapable of more decent, productive undertakings-pick up their criminal ideas from films. And why not? It's just too convenient for them. Watch a movie on their line of criminal activity and they shall have already taken a crash course. Can you imagine criminals having brilliant screenwriters thinking up tactics for them? And for free! From the movie theater, they can go straight to a nearby bank and rob it the way it was done in the movie.

On the other hand, if our films showed nothing but scene after scene of Filipino folkdances, kundimans, local customs and traditions, Filipino filmmaking would have been completely a thing of the past by now. Yet it is possible to promote snippets of the good Filipino character in our films. The Filipino who is peace loving, perseverant, forgiving, God-fearing, decent, law-abiding, socially concerned and proud of his own identity.

Films are really a potent force for shaping the national psyche. They should, therefore, be used properly so that they not only reflect-but also create-the good in our people.